Superiority of Radio

Nowadays, many people prefer to use TV and the internet rather than radio. They believe that radio has been replaced by TV and the Internet. Besides their accessibility, TV and the internet are also more sophisticated than radio. One of their sophistication is visualization that radio does not possess. However, radio still has several superiorities that cannot be replaced by the internet and TV.

The first superiority is as an alternative when disaster happened. When an earthquake or tsunami occurs, it usually damages electric power plant. As the consequence, the communication devices that use electricity will be down. Therefore, communication devices such as TV and the internet cannot be used when the earthquake or tsunami occurs. The only one communication device that could be used in this situation is radio. Although the electricity gets down, radio is possible to be used in this situation. It is because many kinds of radios only use batteries. That is the reason why the rescue squads use radio as an alternative in communicating and evacuating people when the electricity is down due to earthquake damages. Therefore, the internet and TV cannot replace radio in this situation.

The second superiority is as a communication device in military operation. In the military operation, strategy is an important part of military operation. In order to operate, communication device is needed to implement the strategy. TV and the internet cannot be used in this operation because both of the devices are too heavy and the internet is also easy to be spied. That is the reason why combat troops use radio in the military operation. So, the internet and TV cannot replace radio in military operation.

The third superiority is as a communication device with an aircraft. TV and the internet signal systems are quite different. Radio system uses infrared to communicate with the other devices. In order to communicate with an aircraft, airport usually uses radio. Besides its scope range, radio is also used to communicate with an aircraft because its infrared is invulnerable towards the extreme climate. So, the communication between airplanes and the airports will run well.

As a final point, although TV and the internet are more sophisticated than radio, it does not mean that TV and the internet could replace radio because radio still has several superiorities in some circumstances.

By: Muhammad Afdal | Hasanuddin University

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